


Remember my touch and All the seconds in between

by FFFantasies



Category: Filthy Frank Show - Fandom
Genre: AU, Also Featuring PodFic, M/M, Podfic Length: 1-1.5 Hours
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 17:36:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10949433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FFFantasies/pseuds/FFFantasies
Summary: Kohe is five when he meets the strange man in the forest. Kohe is ten when he maybe understands what Franklin is. Kohe is fifteen when he realises he might love Franku. Kohe is twenty and life...continues.





	Remember my touch and All the seconds in between

PodFic: [Remember my touch and All the seconds in between ](https://soundcloud.com/robin-shi-174708089/remember-my-touch-and-all-the-seconds-in-between)

“You’ll be staying with your aunt this summer.”

He doesn’t know why, he still doesn’t know why but Kohe doesn’t ask questions, he never does. His father tells him what will happen and it happens, it’s how their family works. Sometimes his mother will say things or do things and they’ll do whatever she wants but it’s rare. Kohe doesn’t understand the relationship his parents have and he doesn’t understand the relationship he has with them but he’s obedient all the same.

When his father leaves him with a woman he knows is not his blood relative and tells him to behave, he nods and makes sure to wave goodbye. When his mother calls that night and reminds him to do his revisions and practice his music, he tells her will and that he’ll miss her because that’s what a good son does.

“Why don’t you go play outside?”

Kohe doesn’t want to, he wants to stay inside and read his book but he puts it away and gets his shoes because he’s a good nephew. His aunt doesn’t really take care of him, she cooks for him, sometimes she takes him to the store with her but most of the time she’s suggesting he do things. Most of the time it’s to go outside and play on the swing, sometimes it’s go feed the koi in the pond and he thinks she just wants to get him out of the house. She’s uneasy around him.

He goes outside though; he laces up his shoes and takes a bag of fish food with him. He knows he’ll have to spend at least an hour outside and he knows he won’t like it even though the sun isn’t as hot anymore. He doesn’t like sitting out in the yard even though it’s pretty, there are trees and there’s grass and the koi pond and is different from his parent’s apartment but he still doesn’t like it very much.

Then there are the trees behind the fence with the gate his aunt never locks properly.

Kohe is an obedient child but he’s also smart in ways that wouldn’t please his parents as much which is why he doesn’t show off to his parents. He tip toes through the yard, careful to stay away from any of the spots his aunt would see him through a window, not that she ever looks. Opening the latch on the gate is the hardest thing to do and that’s only because he’s too short to reach, he throws rocks until he hits it then he leaves it open.

There’s no path, no easy way through the bushes and trunks but Kohe doesn’t care. His aunt told him to go play outside and this is outside, she never bothered to specify where. He picks a random tree and makes a mark on the bark with a rock so he doesn’t get lost. He pushes his way through the underbrush and marks his way with the rocks on every tree he passes. He’s smart. He won’t get lost.

-0-

Franklin almost trips over the hunched figure and then he almost kicks it. At first he thinks it’s Salamander Man crouched down bothering a frog again then he thinks it’s another one of those fucking retards fucking around. Then he realizes the thing is too small to be anyone he knows and it isn’t wearing a suit.

“What the fuck?” he mutters, backing up and pulling off his shades so he can see the thing better. Small, dressed in clothes he’s never seen before and crouched down hugging its knees, Frank has no idea what to think. Maybe it’s a new spirit? New lycras haven’t shown up in a while, not since the whole thing with Chin Chin but it’s not impossible. Human spirits are more common but they don’t tend to linger, they make their way through this halfway realm and on to wherever the fuck they’re going.

“Hello?”

Frank backpedals into a tree when the thing uncurls and a grubby little face peaks out between black hair. This…isn’t a spirit.

“Can you help me?”

It’s a fucking kid, a human child and Frank’s real fucking glad he didn’t trip over it now. Since when do human kids get lost in this realm anyway? The closest portal is miles away and he doubts a kid as small as this one could wander for miles. Plus, how is this little shit even seeing him? He’s not a spirit like the lycra, normal people can’t see him and this kid isn’t anything special.

“I’m lost,” the kid says and struggles to get up, its hands are covered in dirt and its knees are cut and bleeding, probably from falling down somewhere. All in all this kid doesn’t look half as bad as the handful of others Frank has seen, it’s not crying, it’s not leaking anywhere, it even sounds halfway polite.

“Yeah, no shit,” he answers then slaps a hand over his mouth because maybe he shouldn’t be saying shit like that? He doesn’t know, he’s never been around kids before, he just knows they exist and are smelly, annoying little assholes but they’ll also repeat anything they hear and Frank doesn’t want to be responsible for a…toddler cursing?

“C-can you help me get home?” the kid asks, voice trembling and hoarse but doesn’t sound like it’s on the verge of tears which is good. Frank doesn’t know how he’d handle a crying kid in the forest, probably walk away and pretend he never saw shit but he doesn’t think even _his_ conscience would let him pull such a dick move. He’s a filthy asshole but he doesn’t think he could leave a lost kid to die in the forest, it’d be evil irony or something like that.

“Uh sure, which realm are you from?” and Frank’s sure he’s going to fucking regret this, especially when the kid take a couple stumbling steps towards him and he has to scramble away. The kid can see him which is strange but it doesn’t mean anything and Frank’s not about to let it touch him.

“Hyogo?” the kid tries and it sounds like a question more than an answer but at least it’s an answer…but also what?

“How did you get all the way here from there?” Frank says, taking another few steps back just to be sure the kid can’t rush forward and grab him even though it’s staying in one place. The kid’s almost a little cute, blinking at him through its sweaty hair and tilting its head to watch him.

“I walked. From aunt’s backyard, I’m lost,” the kid repeats and it’s strange because there’s no emotion to the words, nothing to suggest the kid is about to start crying or screaming or throwing a tantrum. Frank thinks if he said no and walked away the kid would crouch back down and wait for someone else to come by. Which is weird, and a little concerning because there’s dangerous shit in this halfway realm.

“Right, I’ll take you back there. I’m Franklin,” he adds after a second of thought and then picks up a dead branch after another second of thinking. The branch is hollow and breaks a little in his grip but it stays together well enough and he holds it out in front of him when he walks back to the kid.

“My name’s Kohe,” the kid answers automatically, glancing up at Frank before he reaches for the branch. Frank notices how Kohe doesn’t ask any questions and how he grips the branch tight, probably afraid of letting go and getting lost again, the kid is smart. And now he’s really wondering how the kid got lost in the first place, if he was smart enough to find some little portal between the realms then he had to be smart enough to mark his way so what the fuck?

“We got a long walk, Kohe, want to hear a story about a man named Francis of the Filth?”

* * *

 

Two years and Kohe still doesn’t know why his father drops him off with his not-aunt for the summer. He thinks it might have something to do with work, or maybe his mother doesn’t want to put up with him for a solid six weeks, he still doesn’t ask questions. He asks less questions now than he ever has and he’s smarter for a seven year old than he was for a five year old. Kohe knows not to ask questions that might stop him from visiting his aunt and he knows not to seem to eager to visit either.

“Behave Kohe,” his mother tells him before he walks out the door to follow his father. He nods, makes sure to look her in the eye as he does and shifts his hold on his new violin case and violin. He’s getting very good at it and this is the first summer his mother is letting him take the instrument with him, before he had to make do with the keyboard his aunt kept and his recorder.

He’s excited but he doesn’t show it. When his father drops him off, he waves dutifully, he greets his aunt and sets up his things in the room that’s his whenever he’s here. He spends the first day milling around the house and out in the yard with the koi, there’s a new bright red one this year and one of the old orange died. He doesn’t talk much which his aunt expects and he practices his instruments all the way until it’s time for bed.

The second day his aunt takes him with her to the store and he reads a new book his mother gave him before he left. The third day is Monday and his aunt leaves him to go to work, he has to make himself wait until he knows she won’t be back before he races for his violin then races for the backyard. He’s tall enough to reach the latch without help now and he knows how to push the gate to make sure it doesn’t lock behind him but doesn’t look open.

Kohe knows the quickest way to getting lost and keeps a tight grip on his violin case so he doesn’t lose it crossing through realms. All he has to do is get three trees deep into the little piece of woods behind his aunt’s house, close his eyes and spin around enough to get dizzy. He has to get lost before he can get found and it’s a strange game he likes to play. He always picks a different spot every time and always ends up somewhere different, then he takes out his watch and times Frank.

Frank’s never taken more than ten minutes to find him and today Frank takes three. Kohe’s looking at his watch when the tall man wearing the dark shades and the pilot’s hat appears in front of him.

“Franku!” he shouts, feeling the bright smile stretch his lips and knows it doesn’t come close to showing how happy he is. Franku is his friend, one of the only friends he has and Kohe loves him, Kohe loves Franku more than he does his parents.

“Holy shit you grew!” Franku yells and Kohe hugs his violin case because he can’t hug Franku. Kohe doesn’t like to hug people, he hates when his actual relatives do it and he doesn’t like when his mother forces him to hug them back but he’d hug Franku if he could. But he can’t, it’s one of the rules Franku has; no touching otherwise something bad will happen.

“People grow Franku,” Kohe giggles as Franku pulls out the length of rope they’ve been using for the past year, it’s sturdy and a little old but it doesn’t hurt Kohe’s wrist and he’s gotten really good at tying it around his wrist one handed. He practices at home sometimes to make sure he doesn’t forget and sometimes he pretends he’s back in the forest realm with Franku instead of at home. He likes the forest realm better than his home anyway, he’d give anything to stay here instead of going back at the end of summer.

“Sounds like a lie made up by a corporation to sell clothes.”

Kohe giggles again as Franku smiles at him and Kohe knows his eyes are sparkling underneath his shades too. He doesn’t understand why Franku likes him so much, he’s not very fun and he can’t tell stories the way Franku can. All he can do is talk about his lessons and his music and he hasn’t even been able to play before but now he can. Now he can play music for Franku and anyone else Franku introduces him to and it can be more fun.

“Today we’re gonna take a walk down to Safari Realm. I got a friend who really wants to meet you,” Franku explained, tugging on the rope to make sure it was tight and letting it fall slack. The rope was to make sure Kohe couldn’t get separated, even if Franku could find him no matter where he was, it was for safety more than anything. And to give them the illusion of being able to touch, if he could, Kohe would’ve taken hold of Franku’s hand but he couldn’t so they made do.

-0-

Kohe’s seven years old this summer and it’s not hard to see how much he’s grown since the first time he got lost in Franklin’s halfway realm. He’s taller, he smiles more, he even has a violin to carry around and play. He asks more questions too and Frank’s shocked by how smart this kid is, he always is and he’s a little proud too because hey, that’s his Kohe asking all those smart ass questions.

Frank’s already decided that they’ll spend most of the summer in the Safari Realm, it’s cooler than the halfway forest and Safari Man can help take care of the kid. Not that Frank **_can’t_** but it’s nice to have a second pair of eyes, especially in realms that aren’t exactly safe even if they are for them. Kohe’s human, there’s a lot of shit in the realms that isn’t safe and if Frank can track down the only human in a thousand miles than so can other things.

“Very good!” Safari claps, laughing as Kohe plays the violin for them and Frank smiles wider. He doesn’t know what Kohe’s family is like, probably shit since the kid can sneak away all summer to spend out of time days in different realms, but they’re doing something right letting the kid play his music. He doesn’t even like classical music but Frank can appreciate the skill needed to play that shit and Kohe’s only seven.

“Wow, Kohe!” Safari yells and he’s just as surprised by this little human child. Neither of them can figure out how Kohe sees them when he doesn’t see other things, not the condemned lurking on the edges of the realms or even the Shades that dart between the shadows. Safari’s been researching a little but there aren’t many actual records of things and not even the great Francis of the Filth knows anything about this. Not that he cares but Safari asked and Safari’s close enough friends with the fucker to get his questions answered.

Safari doesn’t think it’s dangerous though, just a little strange and that’s all Frank really wanted to know. He cares about this kid who stumbled into his halfway realm, he doesn’t know why because he’s met other kids since then and he hates all of them but Kohe’s special. Kohe’s quiet but he’s bright eyed and he’s smart but he’s curious too and he never asks questions Frank doesn’t want to answer. Sometimes he asks questions Frank **_can’t_** answer because he never even thought about them himself but those just make him prouder.

Sitting in one of Safari Man’s sheds made from tree branches and vines though, he’s just happy to have someone he can call a friend. Even if his friend is a little kid who doesn’t know exactly what he is or just how pathetic he is either. He claps with Safari when Kohe finishes the piece and looks at them with stars in his eyes and Frank really wishes he could tell what colour they are.

“Good?” Kohe asks, breathless in a way that has nothing to do with the effort of playing for them. Frank glances over at Safari, more than ready to punch him in the dick if he even **_thinks_** about saying no even though Safari’s been clapping along. He can get a little over protective at times, he knows that but he think it’s deserved.

“It was fucking incredible,” Frank says first and Safari gives him a _look_ but he shrugs. Kohe’s most definitely heard him say worse even though he tries to keep some of the really bad swears out of his mouth when he’s around Kohe.

“The prettiest music I’ve heard in a long time,” Safari tells him and Frank knows it’s true, Safari wouldn’t crush a kid’s dreams but he also wouldn’t lie. It has been a while since Safari left his realm, for reasons Frank’s forgotten about and he definitely hasn’t heard music in all that time. Still, Frank doesn’t think he means it like that and considering the people Safari knows and their ‘music’ he’s still not lying.

“Thank you,” Kohe breathes, bowing before he brings the violin back up to his chin again, “can I play more?”

Neither of them hesitate before they’re giving him the thumbs up and nodding and shouting over each other to tell him to go ahead. Although Frank shouts louder so he wins, obviously.

“Fuck me up, Kohe.”

“Yes! More beautiful music!”

* * *

 

“You’ll be coming with us to Australia this summer.”

Kohe doesn’t know which hits the floor first, his heart or his mother’s jaw.

“What?”

Kohe’s never heard his mother sound so close to screaming before and he’s never heard his father sound more serious. He doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t think he can because what can he say? No, don’t take me with you? I need to visit my friend from another realm who’s probably a spirit the way I’ve been doing for the last five years?

He knows that won’t go over well, he knows they won’t believe and if they do then that’s worse so he stays quiet. He stands by the wall while his mother asks his father over and over why, why, why. Every year they’ve been doing this, every year has been good. Her son comes back so happy at the end of Summer, he’s more normal at the end of Summer. She’s glad when he goes, he’s always known that but she’s never come right out and said it before.

He doesn’t know what to think, whether he feels sad about it or not. Kohe knows his mother cares about him, maybe even loves him but she’s not a very affectionate woman. Sometimes she’ll brush his hair back after he’s played a song very well, or she’ll pat his cheek if he did well on a test but otherwise she’s never what he would call affectionate. He isn’t sure whether he likes it or not, same as he isn’t sure whether her words hurt or not.

There’s no arguing with his father though, even though he lets his wife do whatever she wants most of the time, have whatever she wants, this is the first time he’s been firm. Kohe doesn’t get into the car that first day of summer vacation, instead, he waits in a terminal with his parents with his violin placed neatly across his legs. Instead he gets on a plane and leaves Japan for the first time in his life and all he can think about is Franku.

He thinks about the koi pond with the new fish it’s sure to have as the plane climbs through the clouds. He thinks about the trees at the very edge of the forest and all the little marks he’s left on them over the years as the plane shakes with turbulence. He thinks timing how long it takes Franku to find him and humming to himself while he waits as they begin their descent. He thinks about all the different people Franku’s introduced him to; Safari Man, Salamander Man, Lemon, even someone named Pink Omega.

They’re driving up to the place his father rents every Summer when Kohe notices the trees lining the road. No one speaks as they get out of the company car and they all carry their luggage into the house silently but Kohe notices the trees on the edge of the property. They’re nothing like the ones next to his not-aunt’s house and he’s in a completely different country that’s warm in a dry way where the people have strange accents but maybe. Maybe?

-0-

Frank doesn’t know when he fell into the habit of counting the days down. Usually he doesn’t give two fucks about what day it is, what month, sometimes he loses track of the years because it doesn’t really matter. He lives in a Dead Realm for the most part, usually he scavenges or goes on trips from one end of the realm to the next. Sometimes he goes visiting and Safari Man is usually up for a month’s long trip somewhere dangerous as fuck cause the omniverse is amazing and there’s shit that can hurt spirits too.

He doesn’t know how old he is, or how long he’s been wandering around the omniverse, meeting people and generally being a fucking nuisance. He’s never had a reason to care before, but now he does, he thinks?

Kohe is…human, a human child who visits Frank’s halfway realm every Summer and Frank…well he’s lonely. He has friends sure but they’re not exactly good friends and a lot of them aren’t the same type of spirit as him, it’s just different. Safari Man is the same type of spirit as him, human, but they’re still different because Safari Man knows how he got here. Frank doesn’t, he doesn’t know where he came from or why he showed up in a Dead Realm. He doesn’t know why he looks like Francis of the Filth and he usually doesn’t care even if he is lonely.

Kohe makes him care though, the little boy he found lost in the halfway realm…years ago? Frank’s pretty sure time slips different between their realms, a year for Kohe can be a week for Frank or it can be three years for him; chromosomes make time flow more steady and link realms but Frank’s never had many chromosomes and he doubts he ever will.

Instead, he just waits. He waits until he feels the tug back to the edge of the halfway realm, back to where Kohe’s slipped and shoved and crawled through the narrowest place between his realm and Frank’s. He doesn’t know why he feels that tug either, why he feels bound to this strange human child who creeps through realms to come visit a lonely spirit. Sometimes he wonders if that means it’s safe to touch, sometimes he catches himself before he reaches out to brush Kohe’s hair back out of his face. Sometimes Frank has to pinch himself hard so he doesn’t hug that kid because fuck, no kid’s ever deserved a hug as much as Kohe has.

He’s waiting now, he’s been waiting for nearly three years of his own time and knows it hasn’t been as long for Kohe. This is the longest he’s waited though and the same old worry is eating away at him; what if he doesn’t come back? What if Kohe realizes it’s strange and weird to hang around with spirits from another realm? What if Kohe forgets about him when he makes new friends? Ones he can hi-five and hug and actually touch, ones who don’t disappear at the end of summer?

Frank rubs at his eyes underneath the shades and sighs. In his Dead Realm it’s winter, the air is cold and dry and there’s less daylight even though it already doesn’t have much. Most of the scraggly trees are dead and leafless, even the grass is wilted and hard, if he wakes up early enough, he can see the ice on the ground. Winter in his Dead Realm is never as harsh as it could be which is one blessing but it lasts nearly half the year and he’s already tired of the aching cold mornings and animals snuffling around for food.

The sun is just dipping below the horizon when he feels it, the tug, the pull, the string that’s tied around his heart and _yanking_. He barely remembers to fix his shades before he’s taking off across the empty, dead realm towards the edge of it where it blurs into another. Frank feels his heart pounding his chest, hears his blood rushing in his ears and feels happy, happy, happy. It’s been years and Kohe’s back, it’s been years and he feels like it’s Summer even though he’s slipping on a patch of ice and nearly face planting.

When he finds the person sitting in the middle of the clearing, he’s the one with bloody knees. When he finds the person sitting cross legged in the middle of the clearing, Frank’s the one smiling so big he thinks his face might get stuck that way. He doesn’t care though and for once it’s the good kind of not caring, he almost lunges forward to hug Kohe and Kohe’s the one who scrambles back.

“Happy Summer, Franku!” Kohe crows, grin just as wide as Frank’s and his hair is longer.

“Welcome back, you piece of shit,” Frank pants because shit he just ran all the way across the realm but it’s worth it, it’s always worth it for Kohe.

* * *

 

He’s back at his not-aunt’s this Summer and it’s been three years since he was here last but it’s okay. His father doesn’t have business in Australia this year and his mother doesn’t have to complain about him disappearing all day, leaving her alone and only turning up when the sun’s already setting. They’re going to America this year and Kohe is glad he doesn’t have to go with them, he likes Australia okay but he doesn’t think he ever wants to go to America.

“You’ve grown so much! My look at you!” his not-aunt gushes as she pulls him into a tight hug and ruffles his hair and Kohe smiles politely at her, he hugs her back but doesn’t say anything. He’s twelve years old now and he thinks he might know how she knows his father but he still doesn’t know anything for sure. He keeps his mouth shut all the same and smiles at everything she says and nods when she says something about missing him.

He’s finally old enough to realise how strange it is to be left with her for the entire Summer, how strange that she’s so much younger than his father and doesn’t even say a word to him when he helps Kohe with his bags. He’s finally old enough to realise how strange it is his father travels so much but he never knows why. He’s finally old enough to realise it doesn’t matter so long as he can keep visiting somewhere with trees for the summer.

“There are so many koi for you to see now, oh and there are some children next door this summer too. Three little boys visiting their grandparents, they’ll be here sometime this week. Won’t it be nice to have some friends?”

He doesn’t tell her that he already has the best friends in any world? Frank who he can visit so long as there are enough trees to get lost in, his best friend who he can’t touch but that’s okay, mostly okay. Frank who takes him to so many incredible, impossible places and introduces him to people even more incredible than those realms. Frank who treats him like he’s worth his weight in gold, who smiles at him and tells him he’s doing good even when he slips and falls into a shallow part of the river they’re crossing.

“They’re America, triplets I think. You might like them.”

Kohe doesn’t plan on getting to know any of them, he doesn’t do well around other children. He can’t wait until his aunt leaves for work so he can go visit the halfway realm and show off the new songs he’s learned. This year he got to bring his keyboard with him and he can play so many more songs for all of his real friends. He’s pretty sure Pink Omega sings in his realm, he might even know how to play the piano too and Kohe can’t wait.

“I just hate to think of you being lonely all Summer.”

He thinks that maybe he’ll have to spend at least a few days with these boys his aunt won’t stop talking about, just to ease her conscience. He wonders if they’ll even like him, probably not but he’ll still talk to them at least once to make sure he can sneak away the way he’s used to.

-0-

Kohe doesn’t come every day, he can’t obviously, but Frank finds himself not exactly jealous when Kohe’s visits happen three days per week instead of the five he’s used to. Maybe it’s because he knows Kohe can visit more often now, they’re slowly learning what works and what doesn’t for visits but in general getting lost works.

“Their names are Sebastian, Dylan and Oliver,” Kohe explains as they wander down a path in Salamander’s realm. There are more trees here than Frank’s, more rivers too and most of the rivers lead back to the main one Salamander lives in. The sun is high and bright overhead, which is another thing different between their realms, but the canopy is thick enough that the dappled sunlight isn’t too hot.

“Their parents are lawyers,” Kohe continues as he climbs over a tree trunk and Frank nods. He’s not jealous of the neighbour kids Kohe spends two days of the week with, weekends too but weekends have never been good days for Kohe to sneak away anyway. Frank was sure he’d be jealous of any friends Kohe made but he isn’t…for some reason, he doesn’t know why.

“Oliver likes to rap, like Omega,” Kohe adds after a second or two and Frank nods, makes sure he looks like he’s paying attention even though he’s not saying anything. He is listening, he is, but he’s also thinking. So far he knows a lot about these kids, the American triplets, but Kohe always reminds him of the simple things because his memory’s not the best when it comes to people he’s never met.

Kohe actually seems to like these kids and they seem to like him and Frank is incredibly proud of that. Finally someone else gets to see how amazing this kid is, they get to see how cool and smart and talented and skilled Kohe is and they get to appreciate him. Frank knows the kid doesn’t get half the praise he deserves to, not from his teachers, not from his parents and fuck does Frank want to meet those people.

He wants to call them the fuck out on their bullshit, they’ve got an incredible son who’s got some serious talent and they just let him run around all summer completely unsupervised? Then they take him to countries he’s never been to and never once explain that shit. Fuck, they even say how much they like not having him around, right in front of him and act like that fuckery is normal. And probably the worst fucking thing they’ve done is normalize that shit until Kohe doesn’t even realise how strange any of it is and talks about it as though nothing’s wrong.

Yes something’s wrong. There’s a lot fucking wrong and Frank knows that he isn’t enough to fix it and these kids won’t be either but at least they’re something. They’re something better than what Kohe usually deals with, no matter how little he feels like he’s dealing with. These are the first actual friends Frank has heard about and he thought he would be jealous but he’s just relieved. Finally, finally Kohe gets to have friends who aren’t spirits, who can visit him in his home and talk about the things children should actually talk about.

“Maybe Oliver and Omega will rap together someday,” Frank suggests enough though he knows that shit will never happen.

“Franku, Omega is a spirit!” Kohe whines playfully, tugging on the rope between them and Frank pretends to stumble.

“Fuck you, it could happen!” he jokes and he’s long past caring about swearing around this kid, Kohe’s too good to ever swear, and he’s too smart to ever get caught. God Frank loves this kid.

* * *

 

\- hey kohe

-u believe in spirits?

He doesn’t say a word, doesn’t stop breathing either, doesn’t close his laptop, doesn’t do anything, nothing at all. He watches the blinking line on his computer, reads the question over and over and over until the words blur together and he forgets why his fingers feel cold and slow. He glances over at his mother who’s watching a soap, glances over at his father who’s reading something on his tablet and looks back at his laptop. 

-Why?

His fingers are slow, slippery as he picks out the keys one by one, taking more care than he needs to to make sure he doesn’t get any of them wrong. He wants to ask other questions, he wants to know what the triplets have seen, if any of them have, he wants to know any of them got through, he wants to talk to Frank. He wants to ask without asking and he wants to know even though a part of him really doesn’t want to.

-dad telling us stories about growing up

-said there used to be a shrine in the woods behind his parents house

-told us spirits would visit an he’d see them

-u ever see any?

Kohe stares at the screen again and thinks about Frank, thinks about the halfway realm and the Dead Realm, the Safari realm, Salamander, even the Luxury Realm that they snuck into once. He thinks about all of Frank’s friends, or the people he knows at least because Frank is a lonely person. Kohe’s known him for nearly ten years, it will be ten years this coming summer, and Kohe knows Frank is deeply, entirely lonely.

Frank is a different spirit from most of the others, he isn’t a lycra and he isn’t like Safari Man who Kohe thinks is mostly human. Frank doesn’t know certain things and sometimes he forgets things that he should know, sometimes Kohe has to remind him about no touching even though he can touch the lycras. Frank is different from the other spirits because he changes as the year wears on, his hair gets longer, he changes his clothes, his shades, sometimes he has a bear and sometimes he has wrinkles that disappear the next day.

-no

-I don’t pay attention when I’m in the woods

Which is a lie, a blatant, outright lie because he has to pay attention when he’s in the woods, he has no choice but to. Frank has told him all about the dangerous things that live in halfway realms, Frank has told him all about the dangerous things that live in the realms, Kohe has seen some of them. Some of them have tried to hurt him and Kohe actually has no idea where Frank gets a gun half the time but even in another realm guns are still good weapons.

Then there’s the lie about never seeing anything in the woods but what can he say? Does he say yes. Yes I’ve seen spirits, one of them is my very best friend since I was five years old? Does he say yes, I know a lot of spirits and they’re all incredible, unbelievable people who are a lot like us? Yes I know a spirit who raps like Oliver and I know spirits you would love to take pictures of because they’re so beautiful?

-shame

-he was telling us about humans who could see spirits

-special ones u know?

Kohe swallows hard as he reads the messages and wonders if he should just close the program now, say that the connection went down or he had to leave?

-guess none of us can see dead ppl lol

-anyway

-guess what finally premiered over here

-0-

“Kohe, stay there,” Frank says and Kohe freezes. Frank likes to joke about things, lots of things, but there’s a tone of voice he uses when shit gets serious and Kohe’s only ever heard it once before. He doesn’t know why Frank’s using it now but he does know it chills his blood faster than the river water freezes his feet.

“Don’t. Move,” Frank whispers and Kohe feels the rope around his wrist go slack. Frank untied it and Kohe can’t see much in the dark but he makes out light blue of Frank’s shirt as it moves in the darkness. There’s the sound of Frank splashing his way through the rest of the river and then the rustling of grass as Frank scrambles up the side of the bank and Kohe waits. He stands in the cold river and waits.

The Salamander realm is mostly safe, there aren’t too many big predators that come out during the Dry Season. All of them go into a sort of hibernation until the rain comes again and right now it’s the Dry even though the river water feels like it’s creeping into his bones. Kohe thinks about the last time Frank told him to run as fast as he could, don’t look back just run and how scared Frank sounded.

He thinks about the way the frozen lake under them cracked as something huge chased them across it. He thinks about the way Frank nearly grabbed his hand as they slipped and slid their way across the ice and how Frank used the rope to drag Kohe along, used it to sling Kohe into a snow drift and cut it at the arc of the throw. He’d landed face first in the snow, he’d gotten it in his mouth and his eyes and his nose and hadn’t been able to see Frank still out on the ice.

He hadn’t been able to see Frank pull a gun from God knew where and press the muzzle up under the bear’s jaw. He hadn’t been able to see the bear jerk back when Frank pulled the trigger again and again and again but he had heard the sharp noise echoing around them in the still, dead silence around them. His ears had been full of snow and everything had been muffled but he never forgot the gunshots ringing in the night or the sound of something huge collapsing onto already broken ice. Broken ice sounded pretty, like breaking glass almost but oh so much more dangerous.

The bear had been bigger than anything he’d ever seen, huge and silver white in the moonlight that night. Frank had wanted to show him a frozen lake on a full moon, that’s all, he’d just wanted to share something pretty. Instead they got to see jagged, cracked pieces of ice with the black water showing through, instead they got to see the black blood spilling and spreading everywhere.

Kohe wonders what it is this time. What giant creature is stalking them, what impossibly beautiful monster wants to eat him. This is the Salamander realm and it’s the Dry Season, could it be a snake? A giant snake like Francis of the Filth saved Salamander Man from? Is it a monster frog like the ones Sal fights off every Rainy Season? Is it some kind of bird?

“Fuck you!”

His breath stalls in his throat and his heart goes still. He crouches down as silently as he possibly can and waits. He crouches down and waits for Frank to come back for him, the same way he did when he first got lost and didn’t know if anyone would ever be coming. The rocks under his feet start to hurt and his knees start to lock on him but Kohe doesn’t move.

The night is silent again, the way it was four years ago when the bear tried to eat them, eat them or drown them he doesn’t know which. There aren’t any insects screaming, no birds hooting, no frogs croaking, not even a fish to swim past and brush his ankles. The whole realm is frozen in anticipation with him, or maybe it’s because Kohe can’t hear anything but his own heart beat loud in his ears.

His legs start to go numb and he can’t take a deep enough breath, everything is one long, drawn out heart beat.

“Kohe.”

Frank’s voice is far away, or just soft, Kohe can’t tell which but he doesn’t move. He stays crouched and bites his lip as he hears more rustling in the grass but from the opposite bank to the one Frank used. He hears the rustling stop at the edge of the water and knows if he looks up he won’t be able to see anything in the darkness but the faint outline of Frank’s shirt.

“Kohe, come on, let’s go.”

He stays where he is and counts down from ten.

“Kohe, it’s okay, I took care of it.”

When he hits three, he darts away from the voice and only glances behind him when he’s safely on the other bank. He doesn’t see anything, not the outline of a shirt, not the glint of the shades Frank always wears, he can see the outline of the grass bent around something on the river bank but not what’s making it bend.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

He can tell where the voice is coming from but he can’t see anything there, not even when he squints and stares.

“Ko-”

The gunshot rings loud and clear in the night and the grass shifts again, there’s the sound of something splashing into the river and Kohe can see the change in the flow of the water but not what’s in it. He doesn’t need to turn around to see the real Franku walking up behind him but he does anyway, because he can.

He can see the blur of a light blue shirt and he can see the glint off the shades Franku wears even though the night is nearly pitch black. He can see the wide smile on Franku’s face and knows it’s the nervous one he wears whenever things are tense and awkward and he doesn’t know what to say. It’s okay, this time it’s okay because Kohe doesn’t know what to say either. He doesn’t know what to say and he doesn’t know how to see the thing in the water, the one that stole Franku’s voice and lied to him.

They stay crouched on the edge of the river bank for a long time, each holding either end of a dead branch and it’s as close to holding hands as they’ll ever get.

* * *

There’s a copse of trees at the edge of the cemetery and Kohe stares at it through the future. He watches the sunlight falling on the leaves, he watches the shifting colours of the bark, all those shades of brown. He keeps his gaze fixed on those trees as the funeral progresses. He doesn’t look at his mother, his not-aunt, not even his grandparents whom he’s never seen before in his life. He doesn’t look at the open casket laying in the grave, ready and waiting for the lid of the coffin to be closed and for the dirt to cover it.

He doesn’t look at his father’s lax face and he never regrets it.

He’s graduating from highschool in less than a month, he’s already been accepted to a very good college in…Australia. His father was proud, glad to see him expanding his horizons beyond his own country and it’s one of the few times Kohe can remember his father being proud of him. He wonders if his father would have been proud at his graduation too, proud to see his son finally doing something worthwhile with his life.

He doesn’t look at his father laying in the casket and it’s not because he wants his last memory to be of his father healthy and alive. He doesn’t look at the casket because he doesn’t…feel…anything. Nothing. Not a single thing and that’s…ungrateful. He isn’t sure if that’s the word he wants to use but it’s the best one he can think of.

Kohe doesn’t feel anything at his father’s funeral, his father who should be alive right now, who hadn’t wasted away from a disease or been in a terrible accident. He doesn’t feel anything for his father who died of a sudden, unexplained heart attack while at work. The doctors had pronounced him dead on arrival to the hospital two days ago and now he’s being buried and Kohe doesn’t know if it’s the shock of how quickly everything was arranged or simply because he forgot to feel.

There are people here who he’s never met, his father’s co-workers, his mother’s co-workers, his mother’s brother, his father’s parents, his father’s adopted sister. Kohe never knew he ever had family beyond his parents and not-aunt who still has no idea about and doubts he ever will now. There are all these people who are wiping their tears with napkins, who are looking at him and then away whenever he turns his head in their direction.

He wants to ask them what to feel, these people who so obviously know. He wants to ask them what his father was like, why did they feel the need to come to this funeral when his own flesh and blood son would rather be anywhere else. He wants to ask them all why he has to be here when he feels like he never knew this man who raised him.

The funeral ends as quietly as it began; the coffin lid is closed and it’s lowered into the hole, people mill around and Kohe turns to his not-aunt before his mother. Of all the people here, she’s the only one he can ask without feeling out of place and the only one who will listen.

“Auntie, a friend of mine came to pay his respects but can’t stay very long, can I go speak to him?” he asks, making eye contact with her for one of the few times in his life. This woman who was more affectionate than his mother but who let him run off to another realm every summer, this woman who clearly cares about him but doesn’t seem to know how to care for him. He loves her, in a warm way, in a distant way that he forgets at the end of the summer but remembers when she opens her door and smiles at him.

“Of course darling, take as long as you want,” she tells him and he wants to turn and start walking immediately but he doesn’t. Instead he hugs her, wraps his arms around her shoulders and hugs her the way he knows she needs. She knew his father better than he did, she probably loved him and however she knew him doesn’t matter anymore.

“Thank you,” he murmurs as he pulls away from her and she nods, blinking hard as she turns to speak to one of his father’s co-workers. No one stops him as he picks his way through the graves, he’s the son after all and no one but his mother would ask, she won’t though because there are too many people. He’s all the way to the trees when he catches the familiar glint of dark shades in the sunlight, any light, no light.

“Hi Franku,” he sighs, walking in between the trees and closing his eyes tight. He knows that he can’t get lost in these trees but that doesn’t matter when Frank’s come to visit him. He closes his eyes because he’s…exhausted. Tired of all the phone calls from people he doesn’t know, tired of the people in his house to pay their respects, tired of waiting two days for his grandparents to fly in from America to attend the funeral. He’s tired and he’s…ungrateful so he closes his eyes.

“Safari Man sent you a flower and Lemon wanted to send a lemon but I didn’t take it,” Frank explains and Kohe smiles as the flower is tucked behind his ear. The stiff material of Frank’s glove brushes his cheek and he wishes this was a more permanent fix. He wishes he could have more than brief touches, he wishes he could hug Frank, wishes he could brush Frank’s hair back sometimes, wishes he could slap both of Frank’s cheeks, pull his face in close and tell him to shut the fuck up.

“Salamander Man wanted to send you an ass flute but I wasn’t touching that shit,” Frank continues, kicking at his ankle and Kohe takes as deep a breath as he can and feels his nose scrunch when the breath hitches. Frank never does tell him where he gets the thick gloves, the ones that look like they’re made out of some kind of wool and were knit by someone who doesn’t know how to knit.

“Omega and Pink say sorry, even Francis sent his condolences or something, I barely listen to that faggot,” Frank jokes but it’s weak, falls dead between them, ha, dead. Kohe barely knows who Francis of the Filth is, even though Franku told him the story about a human who’s lived for years and years and years and done some real gay shit. At five years old he didn’t understand what that meant, at eighteen he still barely has any idea what Frank is much less the rest of his friends.

“They wanted to come too but I told them to fuck off,” Frank says and Kohe knows Frank rambles when he doesn’t know what to say but it’s good, he likes the rambling because it fills up his silence. Kohe doesn’t know if he’s always been like that, if Frank has always filled the silences around him with rambling words or it’s something he’s learned to do for him. He wonders if Frank has learnt to do other things for him and he wonders why the idea of Frank changing for him hurts more than his father’s death.

“You…fuck shit you’re crying, I knew I should’ve brought more than the fucking flower.”

He’s crying, he’s crying at his father’s funeral and it’s not for his father. Kohe blinks and feels the tears cling to his eyelashes but he needs to see Frank, needs to see the man who’s been his friend for so long, made his life happier for so long. And for what? What has Frank gotten out of this relationship with him?

What has Frank done? He’s given a lonely, awkward child an actual friend, actual encouragement, actual praise. He’s given Kohe so much and Kohe doesn’t think Frank has gotten even half of it back. Nowhere close.

“Thank you, Franku,” he whispers, voice hoarse and deeper than he means. He blinks hard and wipes away the tears still hanging from his lashes and stares at Frank. Frank in his light blue shirt and black pants, Frank with his ever present shades and newly present knit gloves. Franklin is a handsome man and Kohe wonders why Frank is so lonely, his personality is abrasive but it’s bearable. Kohe’s never seen the worse of this man and he knows it’s because there is no worse, Franklin makes bad jokes and he says offensive things but he doesn’t…he doesn’t do it because he’s such a bad person.

…Kohe can’t explain it to himself and he doesn’t try to explain it to himself because he loves Frank. There he’s said it, he loves Frank and he always has; as a friend, as a best friend, as someone who cared about him, as someone who gave a shit, as someone who loved him too.

“Thank you Franku,” he sighs and moves carefully, makes sure every move he makes is projected clear and simple. He leans forward as Frank tilts his head towards him and his lips brush the hard plastic of Frank’s shades, just below the temple.

* * *

 

“Why?”

And it’s not the worst question he could be asked, all things considered.

“Because I do,” he mutters, grinding his teeth when he glances up at Francis and then away. He hates coming here, to this realm, this one that’s almost like Kohe’s but not quite, that’s nothing like his. Francis of the Filth lives in a realm that’s close to the technological one, he lives in a realm where he can cannibalize machines and make them run on chromosomes. He lives in a realm where he can hide in between the lycra and the almost human creatures and the never human spirits.

Francis of the Filth is a hard man to find at the best of times and right now it’s nearly fucking impossible to track him down but Franklin has always been good at finding people. It helps that Francis isn’t just some random fucker wandering through realms, it helps that Francis is related him. Or was related to him, Franklin’s not too sure what the relation is between them since he died so many chromosomes ago and Francis was born before him but is still around, still young.

Now he’s here, look the same age as Franklin, living in a shitty apartment that he pays for with money he gets from his cancerous show. Strange how much shit he can steal from the human realm because the fuck heads don’t know about any of the other realms. Strange how Francis of the Filth can live in this small ass apartment, can sit in a chair with the stuffing coming out, can have just a mattress and not a bed and can still be one of the most powerful beings in the omniverse. 

“That’s not how it works,” Francis sighs and Frank knows that’s not how it works but that’s why he’s fucking here, isn’t it? He’s here to find something that **_does_** work. The funeral was a month ago and this summer is the last one before Kohe moves to Australia for school and Frank knows that even if the move doesn’t mean anything, it’s a turning point.

Kohe will meet so many new people, Kohe will finally get away from his parents and their expectations and finally find more people who can appreciate him and Frank…Frank is afraid of being left behind. He’s afraid of fading away into a memory and he’s also, he’s also tired of this. That day by the cemetery, when Kohe leaned against the tree and blinked away his tears, when Kohe trembled and cried, when Frank couldn’t do anything.

He wanted to hug him, he wanted to grab him by the shoulders and pull him into the halfway realm, he wanted to hold Kohe until his arms ached. He didn’t care what happened to him, he wanted more, he needed more than the barely touches with the thick fucking gloves. When Kohe kissed the edge of his glasses he swears someone shoved a knife up his ass, just fucking rammed it up there because the pain would probably be about right.

He doesn’t give a shit about fucking or sex or any of the shit. He can get sex, he can be fucked, it’s not hard even though he’s the world’s biggest asshole. He has a pretty face and gives good head, sex is never something he has to go chasing down and it’s not what he wants from Kohe. Fuck he doesn’t even **_want_** anything from Kohe, he just wants a single touch, just one fucking hug.

“Do I look like I care? I just need something, give me something,” he…begs. He fucking begs because he’s desperate, he wants this, he just wants this one thing. One hug, one kiss on the cheek, just one. He wants it more than he wants to see colour and more than he wants to actually have friends and more than he wants to live in realm that doesn’t try to kill him every few days.

“Do I look like I know how? You’re **_dead_**! You fucking know how this works!” Francis shouts, throwing his hands in the air and nearly falling out of his chair. Franklin can’t even laugh because he’s, this is his last resort, he doesn’t know anyone else in the whole omniverse who could help him. He doesn’t know anyone else in the whole omniverse who would.

Francis is his family, the only family he has but not the only family Francis has. Francis has all of his friends, the spirits he took in over the years, the ones he treats like sons and like family. Franklin doesn’t have that, Francis never knew about him until Francis went wandering through a Dead Realm. Neither of them knows who he was in life, they don’t know how he died although it was young, really young, they don’t even know for sure what kind of spirit he is.

“Please, don’t you know someone who could help? _Anyone_ who could help?” he asks but he doesn’t expect an answer, he doesn’t expect a solution. He’s dead, not sure what kind of dead spirit; vengeful, hungry, lonely, horny, but he’s still dead and the dead can’t touch the living. Not don’t, not shouldn’t, **_can’t_**.

“Chin Chin? He might do it for shits and giggles but he probably doesn’t know either. Usually dead people don’t want to fuck the living,” Francis snorts but it’s not insulting, it’s not even a joke. Franklin knew how his world worked, he knew from the very beginning that getting attached to some strange kid he found crying in the forest was a bad idea. He knew picking up Kohe from the halfway realm every summer wouldn’t ever end happy, he should’ve left the kid in the forest. He shouldn’t have stopped to help but he had, he had and he’d met one of the most incredible people in the entire omniverse and he’d fallen in love with them.

“Safari and Lemon are lucky,” Frank mutters, dropping down onto the shitty mattress because he feels like his legs can’t support him anymore. Why did he come here? To make sure he knew there wasn’t a fucking thing he could do? Probably. Get rid of all hope so the burning, ache in his chest would ease up a little.

“Yeah, those fuckers  are lucky,” Francis adds and Frank knows it’s as close as he’ll get to Francis telling him he’s sorry or some shit. He knows because he knows Francis, has for a long time, and it’s not that he hates the dick but they’re too much alike to not piss each other off.

“Want to be in the next show? We’re gonna make dog shit explode with fireworks,” Francis offers and Frank knows that’s another attempt at making this a little less shitty or maybe another death wish but it’s a nice sentiment.

“Be on a show with you and your faggot friends? Fuck no!” he yells but he doesn’t take his eyes off the ceiling. He doesn’t want to see Francis’ expression and he’s glad he wears shades that can hide his eyes.

* * *

 

Tonight’s the last night, the last night he’ll be in Japan and probably the last time he’ll ever stay in his aunt’s house and he’s spending it by sneaking out. All the other times he’s snuck away to visit Frank have been during the day, when his aunt was at work and trusted him to stay home and behave himself. He’s never had to sneak through a dark house in the middle of the night before but it’s easy to do.

Creeping through the house is easy, walking quietly through the hallway, through the kitchen and out the backdoor is easy. Kohe’s known this house since he was five, he’s played in its corners and hidden in its rooms, he knows this house as well as he knows his own. Creeping through the house is easy, stepping out into the yard is harder.

Kohe remembers so many stories, so many nights, all the nights Franku spent telling him about the thin places between realms and the things that ripped their way through those places. Worse things than giant bears or spirits who could steal someone’s voice, worse than spirits who wanted to steal your clothes or the koi form the pond. Franku’s told him about spirits who come and snatch up souls, who kill people and drag their bodies back through because the only thing that fills them is human flesh.

He knows, he thinks he knows, that Frank only told him the stories to scare him into never sneaking out but he’s not so sure. Kohe knows Frank is dead, the spirit of a dead person, but he doesn’t know how Frank died and he doesn’t think Frank knows either and as he picks his way across the yard he knows as well as the house, he can’t help but think about all the things that could have killed Frank. He can’t help but wonder what happened to Frank’s body, his family?

The half moon is just rising when Kohe gets to the gate, just peeking out between the clouds and he thinks that’s better. He doesn’t want a full moon to wash the whole yard with silver light, he doesn’t want something picturesque and beautiful because it could never and would never match up to the things Frank has shown him in the other realms. Kohe leaves the door open behind him, digs his nails into his palm when he notices a shadow flit by the wall but doesn’t look at it. Frank taught him better than that, if it wanted to hurt him, it would have and looking at it would only invite trouble.

He can’t help but wonder why it slips through the wall between his aunt’s yard and the neighbours’, the Rosenbergs. He wonders if IG will finally see something, she’s been asking and researching and waiting for years, and this might be her last chance too. He tries to shake his head to forget as he walks into the woods he’s forgotten how to be afraid of. He’s going to college after this, in Australia, and yes he’ll come home for breaks but it won’t be the same.

Things are changing, he can feel it. Even if he gets to visit Frank from Australia, even if he still keeps in contact with the triplets the way he’s been doing for years, it will be different. IG will be in America, Sebastian will be in Japan, Oliver will be in Australia with him and they were never great friends but they’ll still have each other. His father is dead and his aunt is more heartbroken than his mother, he has grandparents who want to know him, his life is changing.

Some things don’t change though and the weightlessness he feels as he closes his eyes and spins around to disorient himself is one of them. Kohe breathes in deep and smells the change in the forest around him; from something mild and bland to rich and lush and full of life. The temperature drops and a shiver crawls up his spine, he can’t hear anything but the wind murmuring in the trees and for once his smile is genuine. He doesn’t even bother with his timekeeping game.

Kohe knows Frank will find him and he’s known for a long time now, maybe as far back as that first day he got so very lost. That first day his legs trembled under him and he wanted to cry because he was so tired and Frank couldn’t even do anything but encourage him, just a little further, just a little more. Maybe it was faith, him leaving the backyard and stumbling into a halfway realm, into Frank’s halfway realm, maybe it was just luck.

“Oooh, look who’s sneaking out at night, big boy! Things he can get back before his aunt catches him, oooh big boy, going to college and everything!” Frank jokes as he walks up and Kohe grins because even in the dark he can see Frank’s smile. He can usually see Frank’s shirt too but…he’s not wearing it.

“What are you wearing?” Kohe asks, tying the rope around his wrist and falling into step as Frank leads him off wherever he wants. Kohe’s seen Frank wear other things, usually other shirts, sometimes even t-shirts, once a suit but he still doesn’t have an answer for that one. Tonight Frank’s in a regular t-shirt, a black one and Kohe can’t make out anything else about it as the walk through the trees. He guesses it must look nice though, or at least it would on Frank, anything could look nice on Frank.

“Since you’re such a big boy, you finally get to come party at the Temple,” Frank says instead and Kohe has no idea what the Temple is, or for which god but he thinks he’ll like it. He thinks he’d like anything if it let him see more of Frank’s life. More than the empty realms Frank takes him exploring in, more than the few people Frank interacts with, more than just telling him stories about people across realms. He knows Frank lives a different life from him, an impossible life, but Kohe knows there have to be things in it that Frank is proud of, things he wouldn’t think to tell Kohe.

“Safari Man and Lemon will be there, Pink Omega’s performing, you might even get to see Francis,” Frank adds, tugging on the rope a little as they squeeze through another space between realms. Kohe doesn’t know how Frank finds them and he’s stopped wondering, he stopped wondering when Frank showed up for his father’s funeral, he’s willing to just accept things now. He’s willing to take what he can get and appreciate it all, and he’d like to say it’s because of his father but he knows better, he knows that’s not it.

“Fuck, if we’re really unlucky, we might even see Red Dick and Prometheus, those fuckers haven’t been around for years,” Frank rambles on as the plants around them change again, from the forest to a plain. The trees fade away so gradually, he can’t even pinpoint when the forest flows into a plain with grass as high as his waist. Kohe’s never been in this realm, the one that feels cool but humid, it’s almost like Frank’s realm but he can hear the insects in the distance, and he can hear water somewhere close. This realm might look like Frank’s but it’s very much alive, beautifully alive.

“Thank you for bringing me, Franku,” Kohe murmurs when he sees the lights in the distance, multicoloured lights flashing bright against the dark sky.

-0-

He doesn’t know what made him change his mind, finally change his mind. Kohe just showed up, he showed up so much later than he ever had before and Frank had seen him smiling there in the dark and he…he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to show Kohe more of his life, his world, how he lived and what he did and who he knew.

He just wanted to share this, even if he couldn’t share much, he wanted to share this.

The Temple is maybe being generous, there’s no roof anymore, there are barely any pillars left, there’s a marble floor and an altar but the walls are crumbling and the marble is chipped. The Temple must have been incredible back in the day but no one can remember what that was like, not even Francis. The strangest thing about it isn’t the missing roof or crumbling pillars or barely there walls, nah, all of those are standard for this section of the omniverse.

The actual strangest thing about the Temple is that the God it was made for is still around. Chin Chin’s still here, still the same black piece of shit he’s always been but less murderous and hell bent on destroying everything? No one really knows why, most people think Francis had something to do with it, Franklin doesn’t really care. All he cares about is the wild parties that happen in the Temple nearly every night; spirits from all over the omniverse, from nearly every realm, show up to get as drunk as they possibly can and dance until they pass out.

So maybe it’s not the best thing to take Kohe to but he doesn’t know what else he could show the kid…man. Kohe’s not a kid anymore, Frank’s seen him grow him over the years through the summers and, and, and he’s stayed the same all this time. He’s watched Kohe learn to play all kinds of instruments, he’s helped Kohe study for his exams, he’s joked about Kohe never getting taller than him and had to smile tight when Kohe showed up one day, taller than him.

Kohe’s grown, Kohe’s human and humans do that shit. Frank was human too, maybe, but he isn’t now and it just makes his heart do that stupid throbbing thing, the stupid painful thing.

He rambles to get rid of the stupid throbbing in his heart, or at least forget about it. He talks about Safari Man and Lemon and Red Dick and Prometheus and Francis and he doesn’t even care that Kohe doesn’t know who half those people are. He tries to keep talking so he doesn’t say something stupid, something only a fucking idiot would say, something like “Kohe I love you”.

He’s so wrapped up in rambling and never stopping that he almost doesn’t hear it, the quiet little “Thank you”. And that’s when it all comes crashing down around him, when the pain in his chest bursts and washes through him and he almost stumbles because this isn’t fair. He’s never needed anyone before, never cared about friends or acquaintances or allies, he’s a loner from a Dead Realm, a restless spirit who can’t interact with Humans. Why, why, why, why?

Why did he find Kohe? Why could Kohe eve see him? Why did he get attached to the only person he could never be with, never touch, or hug, or kiss without something so thick between them the kiss wouldn’t mean jack shit? Why does he love someone who’ll grow up? Why does he love someone who can’t even cross through realms normally, who needs to get lost the way humans used to do in the old days when they were being lured deeper into another realm to be killed and eaten?

Why does he love someone who’ll outgrow him, someone who’ll have a life, a job that will take them away from him, someone who can have an actual family with someone who can love them as much as they deserve? Why does he love Kohe and why doesn’t he even regret it?

“Thank you for finding me that day in the forest, Franku,” Kohe whispers and Frank fights for breath, sucks in one rattling, shaking breath and squeezes his eyes as tight as he can. He can see the Temple in the distance but he closes his eyes on it, he can hear the other spirits making their way towards it but he doesn’t listen to them. He could say something like “well I could’ve eaten you but I thought this was more fun” or “I’m glad I did too” or even “no problem” but the burning is in his throat now, and his eyes and he can’t hear over the weak little noises in his throat. The pitifully sad little noises, and…he’s crying, he’s crying because this is all so pointless but he wants more.

“Thank you f-for being my f-friend,” Kohe says but Frank can hear the quiver in Kohe’s voice too and he knows both of them are crying. Neither of them stop walking, moving through field towards the Temple, neither of them look at any of the other spirits dancing through the field towards the party. Right now, they might as well be back in Frank’s Dead Realm, alone together. Right now they might as well be on that river bank, holding onto a dead branch, clinging to it because they couldn’t touch beyond the stupid fucking branch.

They’re outside the Temple, standing to the side of the stairs. Franklin can’t make himself walk up the stairs and he doesn’t think Kohe even wants to be here anymore. The flashing lights, probably every colour of the rainbow though Frank can’t see it, they’re just monochrome to him, all different shades of grey. If he was a romantic piece of shit, he’d say something like Kohe was the only splash of colour in his dull life but he can’t because it’s not even true.

He doesn’t know the shade of Kohe’s skin, he can see the scars on his knees from falling down and he can see the birthmark on the inside of his elbow he can’t see the colours and he can’t touch. He knows the shape of Kohe’s eyes, the slant of them, the way they crinkle up at the corners when he laughs, the way a thin spiderweb veil drops in front of them when he doesn’t want to speak anymore. He knows what surprise looks like in them, he knows what sadness looks; swimming in tears and leaking from eyes he only ever guesses are brown.

The thoughts are scattered, flying apart and coming back, floating through his head and he can’t put them together long enough to make much sense. All he knows is that this was a bad idea and his heart hurts; his heart hurts because he loves a human; he loves Kohe and that’s maybe the worst thing he could’ve done for himself or the kid.

“Let’s go back,” he sighs, turning around, head bowed and so wrapped up in everything, every thought and ache and pain that he doesn’t…hear her. He doesn’t hear the girl behind him, giggling and shouting something when she’s pushed, jostled on her way inside the Temple. He doesn’t hear her and he almost doesn’t feel her arm brushing against his and what would it matter anyway? The one person who can’t touch him is standing in front of him and no one else matters.

“IG?” Kohe whispers, voice hoarse and broken.

Frank realizes a little too late that maybe there was more than one person who couldn’t touch him and by the time he realizes, everything’s already fading away. The blood is already thick in his throat and he can’t breathe but, but, but…

“Kohe,” he croaks, throwing his arms open even though he barely feels them, everything is going numb and he can have this, “I love you.”

* * *

"How was your first year of university?" his aunt asks and he thinks about all the wild parties he dragged Oliver out of and he thinks about his roommate, Max, who liked to have loud, obnoxious sex. He thinks about how terrified he was for every final and how many nights he stayed up studying and how he nearly fell asleep during his last essay, he thinks about how little he actually missed his mother and how much Australia reminded him of his father. He thinks about all the times he skyped with his aunt, and the times he walked in on Oliver skyping Isabella and how easy it was to forgive her. 

"It was different than I expected," he finally answers, smiling softly when his aunt pulls onto her street and it doesn't feel bittersweet, not very, even though he remembers all the other times he came here with his father driving and who he usually came here to see. Something about it stops him from being bitter, stops him from hating this place and refusing to come here and he's glad. His aunt's one of the few people he actually cares about anymore, not to say he doesn't care about the few friends he made in uni but there's something different. His aunt is the only family he wants, his mother barely called him, barely cares beyond him keeping his grades up and didn't even bother to tell him that the grandfather he met a year ago, died. 

"The classes are big, and my roommate is loud, he has a twin sister," Kohe adds as his aunt reverses into her garage. He still has no idea what exactly she does or how she affords this house all by herself, why she never got married or found a roommate, or even a pet but he doesn't ask. She seems happy enough and if he thinks too much about it, he might actually get some answers and he doesn't think he wants them. 

"I'm glad you have more friends now, and I'm glad you still want to spend the summers with me," his aunt adds in a voice quieter than he's used to from her. Maybe that's why he hugs her when they get out of the car, she's shorter than him now because somehow he's still growing. He can rest his cheek on her head and she hugs him tight, her hair is soft against his cheek and smells like grapes which is perfect because it's the same shade of reddish purple. As long as he's known her she's kept it the perfect shade of bright purple and he thinks she's one of the reasons IG dyed her entire head such a dark purple the second she graduated high school. 

"Thank you for having me," he tells her, his aunt. They don't say much else, he takes his things to his room and she leans against the car, smoking as she takes a call, smiling at him when he waves at her from the window. He knows she won't care if he disappears until dinner, she never has and he never thought too much about it, he always just thought he was being sneaky but he never really considered that she might know. After all, she told him to go play in the backyard that very first day and he knows now that her property extends past where the fence is, it extends halfway through the trees and all the way to a little river that winds its way through the woods. 

He doesn't have to go all the way there but he does anyway, he watches the sunlight falling through the leaves, falling through the water and onto the riverbed. He knows if he closes his eyes and wades through the river for a little ways he'll end up in Franklin's Dead Realm but he doesn't do that. He follows the river coarse instead, he keeps his eyes on the water and breathes slow and steady as he thinks about the first time he found this river. He thinks about that night, seeing Isabella at the Temple, seeing her get pushed by something with too many hands and brush against Frank. He thinks about the look of shock on Frank's face, the way his head shot up. 

He thinks about the whisper of his name, he thinks about hearing "Kohe" spoken in a voice from beyond the grave although if he was ever being truthful with himself, any time Franku spoke to him it was with a voice from beyond the grave. He thinks about the shock, thick and choking in his throat when Franku threw open his arms, threw them wide and how...how Kohe didn't even hesitate because it didn't matter anymore, did it? He never wants to forget the rushed, hushed, whispered "I love you" in his ear, he never wants to forget the feeling of Franku's arms around his shoulders, crushing him in their one and only hug. He never wants to forget the brush of fabric against his lips as he buried his face against Franku's shoulder, he never wants to forget the desperate happiness in his chest. He will never forget the feeling of Frank's arms wrapped around him, digging into his skin so hard, like Kohe was his lifeline but, but, but, the dead had no life lines. 

He doesn't even want to forget falling face first against the dirt because...because there was nothing there. He wants to remember the feeling of his heart breaking when he realised Frank was gone, really, truly gone, and there was nothing left but his clothes and the rope. Kohe doesn't try to forget and doesn't want to forget picking up the shades Frank always wore, the only thing he could take with him, and walking away from the Temple. He remembers every single step of that walk, holding the shades like they were something precious and special, listening to the spirits around him whispering about the living human wandering through this realm then hearing them gossip about Franklin, about how he was finally gone and didn't you hear? Chin Chin has a new pretty little mortal thing on his arm, she killed Franklin, she touched him by _accident_! By _**accident** _ did you hear? Hahahaha that's precious! Oooh Red Dick is back, about time wouldn't you say? 

Kohe can hear them, all the spirits snickering and laughing as he walked by, swallowing up by the numbness in his head and the touch he'd never forget. He can hear their voices in the river he's following like a map, he knows where it will take him, if he looks at it and nothing else and doesn't even blink until he feels the cross over. He doesn't have to look up to know he's in the field again, he doesn't have to turn in a slow circle to see the sky bright and blue above him, he doesn't have to lay down in the grass and slip the shades over his eyes, Frank's shades, but he does. He doesn't have to do so many things but he does anyway. 

He comes back to this realm, the one with the field full of tall, half dead grass swaying in the breeze. He comes back to the ruined Temple during the day when none of the spirits will be here. He lays down with Franku's shades on, breathes deep, and thinks about all the special, precious years he got to spend with a spirit. He lays down next to the last place Franku ever was and hugs his own arms around himself, smiles to himself, and doesn't feel sad, or angry, or disappointed, or numb. 

He lays in the grass and smiles and is...happy. He's happy and he knows Franku was too. He _knows_ Franku was too. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was all based on a music video "You can be king again" one of the most popular amvs on YouTube i believe and if you knew it, then you probs saw where this was going. I wanna thank everyone for waiting so long for this fic and for being patient enough to get here. Thank you guys for reading this and I hope it didn't hurt too much.


End file.
